Law and Justice

Gowin, go lose

On the eve of the adoption of the most controversial act of the current Sejm (elected in 2019 for the term until 2023), Poland's three-party coalition broke apart.

Supporters and members of opposition parties take part in a protest against the amendment to the Broadcasting Act in front of the Polish parliament building in Warsaw, Poland, 11 August 2021. EPA-EFE/Piotr Nowak

Armed with European flags in hand, thousands of protesters have marched across Poland this week in opposition of a law that could allow the government the power to fire and control the judiciary if it disagrees with its court reforms.

Leader of the Polish Law and Justice (PiS) party Jaroslaw Kaczynski attends a press conference at the Polish parliament building in Warsaw, Poland, 07 July 2021. EPA-EFE/PAWEL SUPERNAK Family ties

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R) welcomes Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (L) July 13. Von der Leyen said she had a 'good exchange' with Morawiecki. Photo: EPA/EFE Pascal Rossignol

Given interwar Poland is a model that PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski often refers to when he speaks about his party's purported restoration of the nation's pride after decades of Nazism, communism and liberalism, this historical fact might give him some pause for thought.

Fast forward to today and this weekend's congress of Civic Coalition is supposed to be accompanied by the news Tusk will take over leadership of the fledgling coalition that contains the party he once led to two consecutive electoral victories, serving as prime minister from 2007 to 2014.

Speaking to BIRN on the sidelines of the event, Education Minister Czarnek did not shy away from the depiction of the Ordo Iuris university as part of a broader set of changes to the country's education system that he, as the minister, had been planning.

Poland's ruling Law and Justice, PiS party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Croatian public broadcaster HRT were given 'awards' on Friday in the first European SLAPP Contest, a parody initiative intended to highlight the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, to intimidate and deter journalists and rights campaigners.

In May, PiS has attempted to repeat the same trick with a package of measures dubbed the "Polish Deal" (initially the "New Deal"), the most prominent of which are changes to the tax system aimed at benefitting the neediest in society.